Suicide Bombers Kill at Least 20 People in Northeastern Nigeria

By The Associated Press

Aug. 15, 2017

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — Suicide bombers attacked a camp for internally displaced people and a nearby market in a northeastern Nigeria village on Tuesday, killing at least 20 people and wounding dozens more, a local official said.

The official, Lawan Kalli — who is the chief of the village, Mandarari — said that at least three suicide bombers had entered Mandarari’s market around 5 p.m. posing as buyers. One or two of the bombers went to a nearby camp for people displaced by Nigeria’s conflict with Boko Haram, and at least one stayed at the market, Mr. Kalli said. All the bombers then detonated their explosives almost simultaneously, he said.

“Our village is right at the entrance into Konduga town,” Mr. Kalli said. “That is where both the camp and the makeshift market are situated, which made us an instant target point of the insurgents.”

At least 80 people were wounded and were taken to the hospital in Maiduguri, a town about 18 miles away, he said.

Musa Bura, a youth volunteer in nearby Konduga, said most members of the local defense force were on guard at the market and not at the nearby camp.

“The suicide bombers came three in number,” Mr. Bura said. “One went into the camp and detonated and almost immediately everywhere turned into disarray. And in the confusion, the two other suicide bombers detonated in the market.”

With a large number of people wounded, the death toll is likely to rise, he said.

The eight-year insurgency of Boko Haram, an Islamist militant group, has displaced millions in Nigeria and neighboring countries and has killed more than 20,000 people.

Late Monday, seven people were killed in insurgent attacks in the communities of Nyibango and Muduhu in the Madagali local government area of Adamawa, said the chairman of the Madagali local government council, Yusuf Muhammed.